Eric Crampton writes – Yesterday [November 17], the Supreme Court ruled that Uber did not merely facilitate connections between four drivers and their various passengers – as Uber has maintained. And that the four drivers were not contractors for Uber either. Instead, those drivers were Uber employees while logged into the app.
If this is employment law, the law needs to change
If this is employment law, the law needs to change
22 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, managerial economics, occupational choice, organisational economics, personnel economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, transport economics, urban economics Tags: employment law
Dishwashers and the 24/7 Time Constraint
22 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, history of economic thought, labour economics, labour supply
In my own family, the reverence that we have for the dishwasher (and other time-saving devices) is such that we have a cat named “Josephine” after the Josephine Cochrane–the inventor of the first commercially viable dishwasher. (Also named because, as a kitten, she liked to forage in the back of the dishwasher.) Erin Braid provides…
Dishwashers and the 24/7 Time Constraint
Nobel Prize Winners’ Work Supports Dynamic Antitrust Enforcement
21 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, entrepreneurship, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, macroeconomics, survivor principle Tags: creative destruction
Antitrust should center on dynamic market forces that drive major technological change, rather than on static “big is bad” market analysis, based on the work of the 2025 economics Nobel Prize winners. Antitrust enforcers in the United States and around the world could benefit by incorporating these insights into their policy development. Focus on Dynamic […]
Nobel Prize Winners’ Work Supports Dynamic Antitrust Enforcement
Why No One Likes Land Taxes
21 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, Public Choice, public economics Tags: taxation and investment
Economists and [insert basically every other group of people] often don’t agree. Take, for instance, the recent discussion of price controls. The headline of this opinion piece on the subject in The New York Times literally begins with “Economists Hate This Idea.” Yet voters aren’t so skeptical. (I’m not ready to say the idea has…
Why No One Likes Land Taxes
‘Limits of Antitrust’ by Frank Easterbrook
20 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in history of economic thought, industrial organisation, law and economics Tags: competition law
The Core Argument: Markets Beat Courts at Correcting Monopoly Frank H. Easterbrook’s 1984 Texas Law Review article “Limits of Antitrust” advances a deceptively simple thesis that fundamentally reoriented competition policy: antitrust law should recognize its own institutional limitations and design rules accordingly. The article contains two central insights. The first is that, because “antitrust is […]
‘Limits of Antitrust’ by Frank Easterbrook
British outlets erase Israeli support for UN’s Gaza resolution
20 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, laws of war, war and peace Tags: free speech, Gaza Strip, media bias, Middle-East politics, regressive left, war against terror
“Netanyahu applauds UN adoption of Trump’s Gaza plan and Hamas rejects it“, the Associated Press (AP) headline clearly stated, in a Nov. 18 article… The post British outlets erase Israeli support for UN’s Gaza resolution appeared first on CAMERA UK.
British outlets erase Israeli support for UN’s Gaza resolution
Bill Maher on how socialism is tainting the Democratic party
20 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in Marxist economics, politics - USA, television, TV shows
This week’s comedy-and-news segment of Bill Maher’s “Real Time” explains why the creeping socialism of Democrats is good—but for Republicans. who wil exploit it to the max in attack ads. (We now have a socialist mayor of both NYC and Seattle.) Maher quotes Virginia’s new Democratic governor, Abigail Spanberger, saying that “If the party doesn’t…
Bill Maher on how socialism is tainting the Democratic party
Andrew Leigh on big data vs. randomised controlled trials
20 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in econometerics, history of economic thought
‘Big data’ has become the catchcry of many data scientists and researchers in recent years. It’s also become increasingly used in economics. However, by itself the analysis of big data doesn’t provide anything but big data correlations. Even when big datasets are available, there is still a place for randomised controlled trials (RCTs). That is…
Andrew Leigh on big data vs. randomised controlled trials
Quotation of the Day…
19 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, history of economic thought, income redistribution, industrial organisation, international economics, Milton Friedman, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: free trade, tariffs
Tweet… is from page 158 of Milton Friedman’s 1953 paper “The Case for Flexible Exchange Rates,” as this paper is reprinted in Friedman’s 1953 collection, Essays in Positive Economics: In brief, it [free trade] is desirable in its own right as one of the basic freedoms we cherish; it promotes the efficient use of resources…
Quotation of the Day…
50 years of economic progress – but are New Zealand households better off?
18 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in econometerics, economic history Tags: housing affordability, The Great Enrichment
Wayne Jackson writes – The 50th anniversary of New Zealand’s Household Economic Survey (HES) provides a unique vantage point to assess how far households have come in terms of income, expenditure, and wealth accumulation. Comparing 1974 with 2024 reveals a story of rising prosperity, shifting household structures, and widening disparities. From dual‑income households to skyrocketing […]
50 years of economic progress – but are New Zealand households better off?
Triggernometry debates sex with Neil deGrasse Tyson
18 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of crime, economics of education, gender, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: free speech, gender gap, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
Here we have the Triggernometry duo (Konstantin Kisin and Francis Foster) questioning astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson about his views on gender (the full interview is here). Tyson seems quite agitated, loud, and even patronizing, but largely misses the points that gender-critical people are making. For example, he begins with his infamous argument that sex (or gender; he…
Triggernometry debates sex with Neil deGrasse Tyson
Justice by tikanga? Not for Kapa-Kingi, she prefers the colonial courts
17 Nov 2025 1 Comment
It is pretty funny to watch Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, the ousted Te Pāti Māori MP, trot off to the courts to challenge her expulsion from the party.
Justice by tikanga? Not for Kapa-Kingi, she prefers the colonial courts
The Last Gasp of the Climate Thought Police
17 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - USA Tags: climate alarmism, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Climate cancelling had a good run — but my Cornell lecture showed its finally over
The Last Gasp of the Climate Thought Police
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
Recent Comments